30 September 2005

"Fear of a Black Planet" was one of my favorite Public Enemy CDs. It was filled with angst and outrage - supported by wonderful backbeats and riffs. It was the music that flowed throughout the mostly-unintelligible lyrics that I enjoyed - not the message.

But the title speaks volumes - Are we afraid of a planet populated by blacks?

Back in 1999, a study by a Stanford University law professor and a University of Chicago economist came to the conclusion that legalizing abortion in the 1970s may have been a leading cause of plummeting crime rates in the 1990s.

The unpublished research, conducted by Stanford's John Donohue III and Chicago's Stephen Levittand and titled "Legalized Abortion and Crime," relies heavily on previous research suggesting that unwanted children are more likely to commit crimes. It suggests that those most likely to commit crimes as young adults -- unwanted children of poor, minority or teenage mothers -- were aborted at disproportionate rates more than two decades ago. The study was reviewed and supported by Anindya Sen at the University of Waterloo.

Time Grieve at Salon misses the point of the paper. Many experts agree that the drop in crime was impacted by legalizing abortion but, abortion is only a trivial part of that. Other factors weren't included in the original study.

The point is that kids who grow up in single parent homes get messed up! This site gives ample evidence of the extent to which our children have been abandoned and put at risk for future problems (ie. drug abuse, crime, poverty). Many of these homes are fatherless. When 60 percent of all children who are born out of wedlock are black - who do you think is being impacted the most? Black families.

But we all pay a price for the scourge of single-motherhood. Many women in the black community choose to have more than one child out of wedlock. When that happens the children grow up in an environment of chaos, crisis, poor boundaries, abuse and abandonment. These seemingly subtle external factors have a HUGE impact on how the child will be when he/she gets older. Being poor or rich aren't factors in this either. A poor child can be emotionally healthier than a rich child. John Bradshaw covered these issues at length in his book "On the Family."

So, for Salon.com to go after Bill Bennett about his comment is wrong. Bennett was just echoing a truism that is getting more and more difficult to hear these days with our "PC" sensitivities. The black community has major issues and no leadership to tackle them. The rest of us can see how screwed up the situation is but we get called "racist" for even mentioning it.

Enough!

We need to deal with these issues and not lock them in an ivory tower. To do so would be disasterous.

27 September 2005

Just when I start believing that Leftist Liberals couldn't be any more annoying, they surprise me! To their nascent abilities of whining, hand-wringing and "Doom & gloom" scenarios - you can now add condescension.

Salon.com makes the case that poor black people are the US's "ugly truth" and that we will now have to deal with them since Katrina is "forcing us to." We're "having our noses rubbed in it" - the article states. Well the ugly truth is that poor black people are poor because they don't want to do something about being poor. The liberals have a never ending cornucopia of excuses as to why blacks are poor but it comes down to choice. The Left are experts at condescension. They are the elites who know that blacks are "downtrodden" and "need our help" - that "they can't do it on their own, afterall."

Many choose to have children out of wedlock. Many choose to not go to school eventhough we bend over backwards to institute program, after program to help them get "edge-u-mac-cated". Many choose to live with their hand in Uncle Sam's pocket - collecting their entitlements. Many choose to be thugs and criminals.

Consider the following from the FBI Uniform Crime Index (1992):

The average Black commits murder 7.9 times as often as the average White.The average Black commits rape 4.4 times as often as the average White.The average Black commits robbery 9.6 times as often as the average White.The average Black commits assault 3.9 times as often as the average White.* Almost 1 million white Americans were murdered, robbed, assaulted or raped by black Americans in 1992, compared with about 132,000 blacks who were murdered, robbed, assaulted or raped by whites, according to the same survey.

"And yet it's irrefutable that this administration's backward policies and politics made this disaster worse than it had to be, and its belated response will do nothing to address the problems that have suddenly been flushed out into the open." - Salon.com

How can you possibly say that anyone but the New Orleans government - through the cooperation of their constituents - is to blame? New Orleans is not a "ugly truth."

The Ugly Truth is that we're continuing to give blacks a free pass and not calling them on the issues that are endemic to their culture. When we operate from fear, we stifle ourselves - our development, our emotions and our ingenuity.

We have to step up with courage and define the problem before the problem defines us.

An open letter to all Ravers & their supporters:Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

First let me say that, yes - not all raves (nor ravers) are the same.

Second, I've never been to a rave. There.

But let's keep it real for a moment. I hope that the readers who posted comments are all past the 10th grade (I know one is for sure since he posted his age). Anyone at the 10th grade or lower I can excuse as being truly ignorant and painfully naive. I know because I was there too. The point of the story is that the police do NOT routinely descend on a party "for no reason." They aren't there on some power trip. They aren't there to make kids piss in their pants from fright and they aren't there to waste their time nor take chances with their own safety.

The foundation of the Salon story was centered around how "inappropriate" the police officer's tactics and responses were to the innocent Rave attendees.

I think that the author has an agenda and a bias against law enforcement. The fact that the bias was embedded in a story about a Rave party is incidental. The 2 points I have issues with are that -1. we tend to get hysterical about nonsense issues2. we tend to over-react and automatically judge the police in the harshest possible light.

And to the 6:09 poster (the only literate one) - Your service to your kids should be keeping them out of harms way - not standing by, ready with a lawyer & law suit if they get pushed down and tazed for not obeying a lawful command.

3:36 poster: Sad to see you couldn't even bother to click over to the www.ecstasy.org site to see the medical data on how damaging "X" is to your brain tissue - yours must be extensive.

26 September 2005

The thing I can't stand about our culture is America's propensity to hysteria. You see it on the 10 o'clock news all the time. The deep voiced announce-over comes out of the tv with a darkened and fuzzy picture of a vegetable juicer and you hear, "Tonight : what you didn't know about your juicer could kill you! Bambi Cums has the special report."

Reading about the Utah ravers who were "terrorized" by the police smacks of hysteria and hyperbole. Frankly it looks as if the police acted in a reasonable manner and with restraint.

As I read the story, it came across like I was talking to someone who had been caught in a suspicious situation - like you find someone sitting in a darkened car out behind your garage and when confronted, the driver just starts rambling on and on about how his car broke down, he ran out of gas, his cousin lives on the other side and he was just waiting for him, he's not doing anything wrong, he is a good person who works, he just had a baby and his foot has a bunion that really hurts....etc. The driver knows that it looks suspicious, he knows that a reasonable person would look at it that way so the driver has to keep talking to make points on why he's there. That is the essence of the Ravers story line. These were just "good kids" who wanted to hang out and dance all night, rrrrr--i--g--h--t !

The Utah police chief knew better.

Anyone who knows anything knows that Raves are all about the "X." Raves are free-for-alls where kids do do drugs, do have sex, and do drink. Excuse me for pointing out the obvious but all those activities are illegal. If you do it and get caught - Too bad. You shouldn't have been there.

Even though it was a "legal" Rave, apparently elements there were providing drugs and alcohol to some of the attendees. The police had undercover officers there who witnessed transactions. That's when the "fascists" moved in with their one helicopter and their "jack-booted government thugs."

Obviously this writer (Farhad Manjoo) never had to descend into a melee of 1,000+ 16 to 24 year olds who, at any time, could turn violent. When the cops are out-numbered and in a volatile situation, they tend to get a little antsy. Do you blame them?

There is an automatic assumption that the police are at fault. They used "too much force" and they "over-reacted" - are some of the knee-jerk comments that I hear all the time. Most of the time the reporters just do not have all the information. Many times that is because an investigation is on-going and to leak every little detail about an incident would interfere with prosecuting the crime after an arrest is made. This writer is obviously not pro-law enforcement. He is pro-"Do whatever feels good." Even if it comes at the detriment to the health and welfare of the kids that are there. There are very good reasons why exstasy is a banned narcotic. And they have the audicity to claim that their "constitutional rights" were interfered with by not being able to attend the Rave.

If they had a Rave in which 1,000 young people got together to listen to Patriotic music, to read excerpts from the Constitution and to honor and defend this Great Nation - and not just re-enact some naive fantastic version of "woodstock" then they'd get some sympathy.

24 September 2005

"In World War II it was clearly understood that a successful conclusion to the war did not just mean the military defeat of the aggressor nations on the battlefield. It also meant the occupation of those nations, and the willingness to spend years re-creating them as tolerant, democratic societies. Indeed, US forces occupied Japan and Germany for longer than it took to fight the actual war. The result of that occupation, however, was the transformation of aggressive, totalitarian states into peaceful, liberal democracies. If we wish to see a similar result in Afghanistan or Iraq, then we must be also willing to bear an equal burden." - Dale Franks, a NY Times contributing Columnist (July 16, 2003)

Joe Conason writes in today's Salon.com that Bush is in another "quagmire" (they use the same tiresome verbiage ... haliburton, weapons of mass destruction, quagmire) - this time it's an "ideological" one.

Joe says that there is now an "anti-war" movement afoot in the US with 66% of respondents claiming that they want our troops brought home. Of course the majority of citizens want our boys and girls brought home! Is that really the point?

No. We have to finish our task in Iraq. Period.

The Shrub is correct. With the Left busily rewriting history, sending money to Cindy Sheehan's war-chest and ignoring the obvious, they miss the all-important issue. All throughout history the lesson goes: "the strong survive, the weak get their throats cut and their women and children get sold into slavery."

The terrorists understand this. The North Vietnamese understood this. The Left doesn't.

Joe writes -

The most obvious truth -- anticipated by experts and acknowledged most recently in a study by the eminently conservative and mostly Republican Center for Strategic and International Studies -- is that the precipitous, unjustified and destructive invasion of Iraq has further alienated the Muslim world and promoted Islamist fascism.

And so it goes. It is our fault, the American president woke up one morning and decided to go to war with Iraq and Afghanistan. The Left is stuck in a 9/10 moment that is reminiscent of "Groundhog Day". In that movie Bill Murray lives the same day over and over again. The difference is that Murray's character learns and develops throughout the process - eventually enjoying a "rebirth" of sorts. The Left is not so lucky.

Using the argument that our actions in the Middle East have "ignited" Islamo-fascism is like saying that deploying police to an area "causes" crime. We do see that mind-set in the black community with regards to the police but that is more a function of black "victimology" and their refusal to take responsibility for the conditions within their communities.

Joe says,"But what of Bush's insistence that an American withdrawal from Iraq would encourage Islamist terror? He is wrong -- and yet the concerns he is exploiting cannot be dismissed lightly."

Again the Shrub is right. Caving into the Media and pulling out of Iraq would undoubtedly bolster Islamo-fascists in their mission. They would see that their Clerics were right all along. They would use that opportunity to say that Allah did indeed bless the Jihadists in their fight against the West. It would take 10 years of more fighting to get back to our current position. Every career criminal and every natural predator knows that you only attack when it is to your advantage - that's why lions attack sick, old or weak animals. Keeping yourself in a strong position is your best defense. Bush, some Democrats and the Republicans understand this. It is not a difficult concept. It is intuitive - a visceral truth.

We are taking care of business in Iraq - no thanks to Joe and the hand-wringers at Salon.com

Last Thursday Lorenzo Lamonica killed his ex-wife, then turned the gun on himself, Park Ridge police say. I'd known Lorenzo for a year and always found him to be a warm and gracious man. An immigrant from Sicily, he'd recently returned from a short vacation there. I asked him if he had a good time, to which he replied, "Everywhere I go they tell me to 'eat! eat!' as he patted his stomach. He seemed happy, if not a little distracted. He had a wry smile and was always ready to patiently endure my attempts at speaking Italian. He was a decent man - straight forward and resolute. He was good to the police.

What a terrible loss. As a regular to Cafe Versace (2661 N. Harlem), the news hit me like a punch to the stomach.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. You will be missed, my friend.

16 September 2005

The eastern sky is just starting to turn a light indigo. I look westward out the window of my second floor office into the kids' playground. There is a purple shading to everything - no doubt from the fast advancing daylight. I turn and look at the clock. It says 4:47am - 30 minutes until daybreak. - Ugh.

I cannot think of anything. I don't know what day of the week it is. I don't know the date, what is going on today, what errands I have to run, what bills are due. All I know is that I just woke up. I wonder if psychiatrists have come up with an appropriate Latin name to describe "my ass just woke up and I don't have a clue." If I had to guess - it might be something like hypnogogic circumambulation amnesia.

My knee creaks as I take the first step down the stairs which will lead me to the kitchen. In my addled state, the darkness of the stairs is almost more than a hindrance. For just a moment I think, "How will I ever get down these." Of course, the thought is just a flash - I know that I'll be just fine but, I am wiped out. The two cats decide to make my journey downstairs an even faster one by weaving in and around my legs. I think that they do that just to drive the point home that they were bored. During the night they must sit there and ponder how they'll celebrate my awakening. One says to the other, "You step in front of him while I distract him by incessantly meowing - it'll be cool!"

I squint down into the dark morass of mewing shifting shapes and put a tentative first step upon the top stair. Whew! - 26 more to go. I ease down and shift my weight as I lumber on in my slow descent. With each footstep I am vigilant about stepping on one of the cats. I do love them but, even in this foggy state I know that soft, warm fur is not what our carpets feel like underfoot. Even though the makers of Berber would have you believe otherwise. They certainly charge for their product as if it were made from long-hair Persian Cat.

I get to the bottom and turn to the right - cutting through the dining room and lunging into the kitchen - my heart beat picks up a little as I view the black Krupps coffee maker in the corner. The luminous green little clock zooms in on me. "Hello darling," it says seductively.

I love coffee. And, before you jump to any conclusions about this being a one-sided, unrequited romance, let me reassure you - it loves me too!

That's right. This is no one night stand; no sweaty, fumbling-for-the-bra-hook first date; this is the real deal. The one where you completely forget about "all the others" and settle down and commit. This is it.

Start shopping for that wedding ring, that house in the suburbs and that top of the line coffee maker because the skies are afire with the crackle and burst of pyrotechnics. Lightning is raining down from Olympus. Apollo's chariot is ascending the sky with the sun in tow. And the coffee machine is churning out dark, rich, smooth, frothy melanges of espresso. Espresso - what a word. It brings to mind the sights and smells of Milan. Cobble stone streets, beautiful olive skinned women floating past you in sheer white cotton dresses, the smell of baked bread wafting to you from the corner baker, street vendors in open air kiosks, feeling the warm sunlight shine down on you as you lift the tiny porcelain cup up towards your lips - "Introibo ad altare Dei." There is a small tray of biscotti - grabbing one of those you whisper "corpus christi" as you take the first bite. It is a religious experience.

I open the fridge and solemnly pull out the bag of Starbucks Dark Roast espresso (whole bean, of course). Opening the top of the bag I feel the faint scent of the black coffee beans grab me. I know there is no going back. Pouring the beans into the Salton grinder, I know just how much to put in to get the optimal amount of coffee grounds. Putting them into the small steel cup, I fill the machine with water--and wait.

The cats are looking up at me; waiting for me to march downstairs with them in order to feed them. What? Walk away and leave the machine? Take a chance that I'll see a big fur ball downstairs in the family room and, bending over to pick it up see another one. Pretty soon I'm so distracted cleaning up dust bunnies that I'd forget that the coffee machine is going and I'd miss my "steaming" window. You can't have a proper cup of espresso without a hot, foamy, steamed whole milk libation to go into it. Never. Sacrilege!

So the kitties will have to wait. They go through this every morning, anyway, I muse. They should be used to my routine by now.

Stupid cats.

I bet that that is how a heroine addict feels when he's about to shoot up. Nothing else matters. Not food, sex, commitments, job or pets. They won't starve waiting 5 more minutes to nibble on their IAMs, I rationalize. A little pang of guilt wallows up as I look down again and see their little faces framed against the dark grains of the wood floor. They're still staring at me. Wondering, "when." They know that all I have to do is make a move in the direction of going downstairs and they turn and run like Saxons galloping off into the crusades.

The sound of the Krupps grabs my attention. I can hear it gurgling and bubbling and I know that the heating element inside is getting the water almost to the boiling point. Any minute now.I pour a splash of cold milk into my glass 'Loyola University Class of '97' mug. It's inscribed with the Latin motto of the Jesuits - "Ad majorem dei gloriam"-"for the greater Glory of God." How appropriate. I feel at one with the universe as I see the blood of the savior issue forth from the spigot of the machine and languidly accumulate in the Holy Chalice. My atonement will soon be at hand.

I flick the switch and set it to steam and heat up the milk. A horrific whine is made by the machine as super hot vaporized water is blown into the milk. I toy and tease the mug so that a thick foam builds up on top. You have to pay attention as you do this. Your mission at this point is two-fold: heat the milk AND manufacture foam. They are two essential sides to getting this right. My focus is absolute. My mind at peace. I follow the sight of the coffee now as the milk is done and the rest of the water is pumped through the fine mesh basket, extracting the essence of the Arabica bean.

It is done.

A little sugar into the milk, a quick stir and then the coffee is joined with the milk. A Perfect union.I make the sign of the cross over the Holy Goblet and intone "In Nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti." Mass isn't just for Sundays, you know.

I walk over to the table and sit down facing the patio doors that give me a view of the playground. I put the glass to my lips and sip. A small piece of sugar is stuck in the foam and my first taste is of crunch sugar, then the languid mix of milk, coffee and sugar hit me all at once. Wonderful.

All is well in my world.

The cats are still desperate to get my attention and have resorted to head butting me in the legs. I wait for the hot liquid to seep down my gullet and warm my insides. I take a deep breath and start to feel the internal engines begin to warm up. My spirits rise immediately.

The last lines from Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist" come to mind.

"Amen. So be it. Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.

13 September 2005

Even though I admire Bill Moyers; when it comes to politics - he should keep his opinions to himself. He has become the High Priest of the Unhinged Left; their philosopher-cum-pundit, their harbormaster in spurious, quasi-thoughtful discourse.

He commences his speech to the Union Theological League by repeating stories about religious persecution dating back to 1651 – that's ’AD.’ Moyers wants his audience to believe that we are in danger of returning to a Theocracy due to our current conservative political climate.

No longer could magistrates order citizens to support churches they did not attend and recite creeds that they did not believe. No longer would "the loathsome combination of church and state" -- as Thomas Jefferson described it -- be the settled order. Unlike the Old World that had been racked with religious wars and persecution, the government of America would take no sides in the religious free-for-all that liberty would make possible and politics would make inevitable.

The truth, as usual, is obscured by the irrational hatred for George W. Bush and the ever-present need of the Left to acquiesce to any and all criminal elements.

Moyers says that the Koran enflamed "these murderous young men" to come to America and kill our people on 9/11. Again the Leftist in Moyers comes screaming to the forefront. It was the Koran that was to blame, not so much the terrorists themselves. Moyers implies that we need to "understand" these people to help us come to a sense of balance and to exempt Muslims from responsibility. Would Moyers and people of his ilk give the same courtesy to post WWII Nazis? The dynamics are the same. The Germans had a solid rationale for their actions – including testimony from scientists and philosophers. They were zealots for the Fueror. Everything was justified. Today the Leftist media is justifying everything from criminals to terrorism by claiming that economics and misunderstanding caused the 9/11 tragedies.

Moyers cites excerpts from the Koran to highlight our misunderstanding of these poor murderous "young men." Where is the same consideration for our own religious Right? Where is the tolerance, the understanding? No where. The same Leftists continually debase our own religious citizenry by pulling passages from the old testament to show how barbarous and intolerant we are. The question is: "Where are the Christian Terrorists?" The answer: No where. It is another invention of the Left that there is a "sect" of some unnamed, unfounded Christian terrorists that are out there standing peacefully at abortion clinics holding up placards.

He says that our "soul freedom" is in jeopardy.

The First Amendment neither inculcates religion nor inoculates against it. Americans could be loyal to the Constitution without being hostile to God, or they could pay no heed to God without fear of being mugged by an official God Squad.

Moyers says that our Constitution "neither inculcates religion nor inoculates against it." But the glaring detail he omits is that the Left is concerned with God to the extent that they can actively remove God, religion and spirituality from our society and culture. They implicitly want God – as you understand God – to be replaced by the all-mighty State. An atheist utopia is their goal.

The ultimate purpose of all terrorism is to instill fear. If they can get into our "hearts and minds" then half the battle is met. That needs to be addressed and our media giants are not doing it. They are hoping that by blaming our President, the Patriot Act, Haliburton and/or Global Warming, it will all go away.

I agree with Moyers that literally interpreting the bible is not our highest spiritual aspiration. Taking the bible as a historical document removes all the mystical elements out of our religious experiences. It lowers the metaphysical down to no more than a newspaper article. If you really believe that the Great Flood actually happened then it becomes a big "so what?" The point of the Flood myth is that it represents a symbolic event in your spiritual life – a great change, the Phoenix arising from the ashes to be reborn in the fires of alchemy, a death and resurrection. Just as the point of Jesus’ crucifixion is not that he lived and died, it is that his life and death stood for something. It must point to something within you that is magical, mystical and mythic.

Moyers does all of us a disservice by not recognizing that he is taking the "road well traveled." He has adopted the mantle of Bush-hatred and self-flagellation.

The bottom line is that you have to be an enemy of America in order to get sympathy, understanding and empathy from the unhinged Left.

06 September 2005

Today's San Francisco Chronicle article, "Scientists Baffled by Saturn's Rings" is more proof that George Bush, evil Republicans and Americans are increasing the amount of green house gases to such an extent that now we're seeing its effects on the Rings of Saturn.

New observations by the international Cassini spacecraft reveal that Saturn's trademark shimmering rings have dramatically changed over just the past 25 years, scientists said Monday. Among the most surprising is that parts of Saturn's innermost ring have grown dimmer, and a piece of the D ring has moved 125 miles inward toward Saturn.

Microwave transmissions from cell phone usage have been measured as far away as Alpha Centauri. These transmissions may be flowing into the Rings of Saturn and disrupting their cohesiveness.

Just like the mayor of New Orleans I am pissed off at these big business Republicans not caring! Now we have direct evidence that our American lifestyle is threatening the delicate balance of our Solar System. What next? Are we going to cause a Milky Way collapse when all the baby diapers buried in landfills around the US deteriorate at once? I shudder to envision such a nightmare scenario.

Saturn has been a fixture in our night sky for 4 billion years. I'm saddened to see that now, because of Global Warming, we may cause it to disappear forever - just like we did to the Spotted Owl.

02 September 2005

The axiom that says hindsight is 20/20 is certainly applicable to the New Orleans tragedy. Today it is easy to point to obvious oversights that the federal, state and local governments either ignored or refused to deal with. New York's response to their 9/11 attack was much different than the response that we're seeing from the leaders within the states of Louisiana and Mississippi.

When NY was attacked you could see that city went into an organized mode of recovery. There were press conferences, emergency plans were enacted and help poured into Manhattan from all quarters. Mayor Guiliani was calm, hopeful and reassuring. His presence was a rock amidst the confusion and anger over this vicious attack.

Contrast this with the vitriole being slung by New Orleans mayor Nagin.

"Nagin is angry, and wants people to flood the offices of the president and the governor with letters calling for help. He thinks not enough is being done to help the evacuees. He said that federal officials "don't have a clue what's going on."

"Get off your asses and let's do something and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country," Nagin said. "People are dying. They don't have homes, they don't have jobs. The city of New Orleans will never be the same. And it's time."

The mayor said he needs troops and hundreds of buses to get evacuees out.

He said that it was laughable that some officials had mentioned possibly having school bus drivers brought to New Orleans to help with the evacuation.

"I'm like, 'You have got to be kidding me.' This is a national disaster, get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses to New Orleans," he said. "This is a major, major, major deal."

Nagin accused state and federal officials of "playing games" and "spinning for the cameras." He said he keeps hearing that help is coming, but "there's no beef."

He called for a moratorium on press conferences. He said he doesn't want any more press conferences there until there is actual manpower on the ground helping his city. He said that he is tired of hearing that thousands of troops are on their way because they are just not there.

Earlier, he issued a "desperate SOS" on behalf of the thousands who are stranded at the convention center. He also gave the go-ahead for them to march across a bridge to a dry area of the city and look for whatever relief they could find."

Mayor Nagin has brought his own core beliefs in to play. It is obvious from his comments that his assumptions are as follows:

1. "We are Victims and we must be resued because we have no control over our own lives."The city government has had its head buried in the sand for decades about the threat of flooding that the gulf region faced. Recent reports show that the point on the levee which failed was recently shored up by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Alerts went out 48 hours before the storm hit and complete evacuation was called for. Obviously many didn't listen and now they're "refugees." This is another example of people who don't exercise their common sense and now the Government has to bail them out.

2. "The majority of victims were black so the response is poor due to institutionalized racism."The mayor's tone is that he feels the government is not doing enough. Maybe the blame should be placed where it belongs - at the feet of the "unwashed" masses who ignored the government's warnings, chose to stay in the path of a hurricane, didn't prepare for an emergency, had no plan in place to deal with basic survival, and just didn't care enough to help themselves (ie. take responsibility). This is a bad situation for all and the mayor's ranting and raving is not a constructive response to the tragedy. Playing the blame game and wagging their fingers is not helping anyone.

3. "Someone must be blamed - and it ain't us!"The mayor has adopted the Black Left's all-too-typical platform of "it's not our fault." I can almost hear the lyrical chanting of "We didn't land on Plymouth rock, Plymouth rock landed on us!" in the background. It is sad that someone who is supposedly a leader doesn't have the basic sense to understand that blaming other people for your own life situation is not helping anyone.

While Mayor Nagin hides in another part of his state, his constituents continue to rob, steal, rape and pillage. Where is his "righteous indignation" about that? I guess he just expects his people to behave that way and that is the sadest thing of all.